High Speed Retreads

[malibu65]

I failed out on high speed in feb. of this year and am headed down to the Fast Lane driving school in about a month. Just wondering if anyone out there has been there and what do you think of it? I talked to a woman that works there and she said renting something like a dodge charger would probably be best to run the track with cause its pretty close to the crown vic as far as the vehicle dynamics. She also said that most cadets who head down there are very successful on their second run at EVOC at the academy. Just wondering if there was anyone out there that went to their school or not...

[HIPCHIP]

Don't know anything about the school, but you might also want to look at go-kart (actually Karting) classes as it might be cheaper and it teaches the same basics.

Just a thought.

[CalServe]

I failed out on high speed in feb. of this year and am headed down to the Fast Lane driving school in about a month. Just wondering if anyone out there has been there and what do you think of it? I talked to a woman that works there and she said renting something like a dodge charger would probably be best to run the track with cause its pretty close to the crown vic as far as the vehicle dynamics. She also said that most cadets who head down there are very successful on their second run at EVOC at the academy. Just wondering if there was anyone out there that went to their school or not...

Those words aren't very assuring. :think: How much is the class?

[rvtchp]

Prices vary, here's the site for it http://www.raceschool.com/index.html

[CHPUSMC]

renting something like a dodge charger.


My classmate rented a V6 Crown Vic from a Ford dealer.

[malibu65]

I'm renting a full size car like a mercury or a chevy impala. I talked at length with one of the people at the race school and said they've had alot of success with cadets who go down there with something comparable to the crown vic. They told me the vehicle dynamics are very close. They also told me that the instructors spend more one on one time with you and tailor their teaching to the CHP cadets needs specifically. One of my buddies who's in II-08 right now took their one day session and said that there is an instructor there who is a former Sheriff evoc instructor who was very helpful. He told me he wished he'd rented a full size vehicle rather than used their race-ready Celica GTS'. But so far he's passed skid pan and scheduled to take high speed real soon. Hopefully it helped him. I'm scheduled to go down to the school this friday so we'll see how that all works out.

[malibu65]

Just finished the Fast Lane 3 day course yesterday. I rented a car and ended up getting a front wheel drive mitsubishi galant. Handled very similar to the crown vic but was pretty gutless. I would say it gave me great experience handling a full size vehicle and the vehicle dynamics were very similar, with exception to the lack of rear wheel drive. The third day high speed was pretty good also. A big confidence builder and I'd recommend it to anyone who fails out on high speed. I think the main thing for people who fail out is eye placement. For some people its pretty difficult to learn how to look to where you want to go, yet "focus" and drive with your peripheral vision. It definitely helped with my eye placement issues. There is also alot of special attention to CHP cadets in these areas from the instructors. Tons of seat time and the instructors have ALOT of experience and are pretty cool. Anyway, for what its worth, I think it did me a great deal and would recommend it to other failed out cadets. Hopefully I'll be headed back in November. If anyones got questions just PM me.

[LovemyCADET08]

Don't know anything about the school, but you might also want to look at go-kart (actually Karting) classes as it might be cheaper and it teaches the same basics.

Just a thought.


Where can you find these places?

[dw]

I rented a car and ended up getting a front wheel drive mitsubishi galant. Handled very similar to the crown vic but was pretty gutless. As far as dynamics are concerned, how can a FWD vehicle possibly be similar to a CVPI or any RWD vehicle for that matter?

[greenhorn]

Just finished the Fast Lane 3 day course yesterday. I rented a car and ended up getting a front wheel drive mitsubishi galant. Handled very similar to the crown vic but was pretty gutless. I would say it gave me great experience handling a full size vehicle and the vehicle dynamics were very similar, with exception to the lack of rear wheel drive. The third day high speed was pretty good also. A big confidence builder and I'd recommend it to anyone who fails out on high speed. I think the main thing for people who fail out is eye placement. For some people its pretty difficult to learn how to look to where you want to go, yet "focus" and drive with your peripheral vision. It definitely helped with my eye placement issues. There is also alot of special attention to CHP cadets in these areas from the instructors. Tons of seat time and the instructors have ALOT of experience and are pretty cool. Anyway, for what its worth, I think it did me a great deal and would recommend it to other failed out cadets. Hopefully I'll be headed back in November. If anyones got questions just PM me.

What was your top speed in that FWD vehicle on their track?....Just wondering:think:

[malibu65]

What was your top speed in that FWD vehicle on their track?....Just wondering:think:

on their "streets" track, the fastest i got up to was about 85. On the high speed in their celicas I got up to around 105 in the straights. Turn 9 at willow springs is pretty similar to (but not exactly like) the long initial turn at the academy (can't remember what that turn # is but its like a 1/4 mile long) and I took it at around 90-95. That turn at the academy I remember taking it about 10mph faster. As for what DW said above he's exactly right, having a FW drive vs a RW drive car makes a big difference and definitely changes the dynamics. I'd recommend gettting RW drive if possible. I didn't have that luxury, but to me it felt like the weight transfer characteristics were very similar. I'm sure renting something like a mustang or charger would at least give you that RW drive advantage in learning. I just went with what they gave me.

[25/31]

As far as dynamics are concerned, how can a FWD vehicle possibly be similar to a CVPI or any RWD vehicle for that matter?


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